Planned War Zone Return Not a Basis for Reducing PPD Benefit

The Department of Labor's administrative law judges cannot rely on claimants' plans to return from overseas employment as a basis to drastically reduce permanent disability awards, the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals concluded. The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals rejected an administrative law judge's attempt to reduce a Blackwater security specialist's permanent partial disability rate from $1,114 a week to $1 a week, based upon the date the worker planned on returning to a lower-paying job in the United States. By securing Raymond's PPD rate at $1,114, the court ensured th...